The Bouncy Ball Incident
by Jonathon Oaker
Summary: Rory and Amy want to go home, but the Doctor and his trusty Bouncy ball have other plans!


**A/N: This is my first story, i am dylslexic and pretty new to all this, i would like to thank xxDibDabxx for being both my fiancee and my beta reader hope you enjoy**

Inside the Tardis

Rory and Amy stand next to the central console. Amy leans wearily backwards on to the control panel and sighs while Rory moves around to stand in front of her, speaking softly.

'I know you're enjoying yourself and... I am too, but…don't you think we should go home soon? It's been months and I have the distinct feeling I left something on...'

'When we return it'll of only been five minutes so it'll be fine,' says Amy in a reassuring yet annoyed manner.

'That's not the point! Every time we come home everyone says I look tired or sad. Is your job stressing you out? Erm... no mum, it's not that ,it's just I'm prematurely aging due to flying around in a magical little box with a man and his ridiculous bow tie for months at a time!'

The Doctor comes unseen from the other side of the central control panel.

'Hey! Firstly, it's not magic, it's time travel. And secondly, you leave my bow tie alone. Bow ties are cool. You're only jealous because you don't have a bow tie. Amy loves the bow tie, don't you Amy?'

'Well... erm... you see...' she says before she's interrupted.

'See? She loves it, 'cause bow ties are cool,' the Doctor says while straightening it, 'Now where shall we go on our small adventure? Small... that's an interesting idea! Small, small small... the creation of a proton star? No. Too…gravity. Or is gravitational... maybe gravtitationy, gravitish? Anyway, no'.

'Doctor?' Amy interjects but is ignored by the Doctor rantings.

'Small...hmm... ahha! Napoleon! He was small and angry; good at poker though and I still owe him all of England from that last game. Maybe not him then'.

'Doctor?' Rory attempts but to no avail.

'I didn't bet England,' he says defensibly, 'well I did but I didn't know I was. Somehow the telepathic link got severed between me and the Tardis which I'm convinced was River's fault so thank you for that one Ponds! Anyway, I don't speak French. Well I do but just not well; it's not a real language is it? '

'Doctor!' Amy and Rory say together. They look at one another, gathering courage; neither wanted to think of him alone but they knew they had to go.

'We'd like to go home,' Amy states with an assertive tone and face, which quickly melts while she attempts to gauge the Doctors reaction.

'I see... home…'

There was a sad far-off look in his eye as he finished his sentence. He bows his head and looks at the console, saying 'Setting sales for home'.

'It's not like we'll be gone for long,' Amy jumps in, then quickly looks to Rory for support.

'No, no not long at all'.

Amy steps towards breaking from Rory's side and places her hand on the Doctor's shoulder, saying 'It's not like you need us two here, the boring married couple. You'll be okay without us'. It's almost a question but not quite.

'Yeah, of course I will. Me, yeah, I'll be fine; got tons of things to do. I have a crossword from 1978 there that I still haven't finished - that 12 down, 6 letter s, begins with D: a common term for someone who practises medicine officially. If you two need me, just call or Rory, you could dress as a centurion and wait in total solitude till I turn up in history…too soon?'

Rory steps forward clearing his throat

'And if you do miss us, you can just go to the future and get us in a few months or so'. He says not really sure if that's how it works.

'Can't go back or forward on personal timelines.' The Doctor says in a defeatist tone.

'What?' asks a very confused Rory, momentarily forgetting about going home.

'Time isn't what you think,' he pulls a meter ruler from his jacket pocket. Rory is astonished and completely bewildered, 'Bigger on the inside - now you see this this ruler?' Rory nods. 'See it with its straight edges and its nice straight line?' Rory carries on nodding repeatedly in a daze. 'Well, time is nothing like that,' he snaps it in half, breaking Rory's somewhat trance. He throws a piece over each shoulder and pulls a red shiny bouncy ball from his pocket filled with glitter.

'Time is much more like this: wibbly wobbly, really more a circle with odd stuff going on inside and then while all the odd stuff is going on inside, outside it's just as weird', he proceeds to throw the bouncy ball at the wall and watches for a moment as it bounces around. At first, you'd expect it stop but it keeps going for an unnaturally long time and, to no surprise of the Doctor, carries on.

'See were on inside in the wibbly goo and on the outside, time's having a whale of a time bouncing around ,so it not as easy as just walking down a straight line; more like mapping a jungle… filled with goo and people and, well... yeah… home?'

The bouncy ball continues to bounce, Rory's head movements following its bounce from wall to wall. Amy without hesitation nods and says 'Yes'.

'Setting a course for home!' The doctor says, pressing buttons then pulling down the lever while the Tardis makes the distinctive noise known by so many as a lullaby of time.

'DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!' he shouts over the noise, the ball slowly getting lower, making its journey from bouncing around the top of the Tardis to the lower end near Rory. In a jerk of the Tardis, the ball flies at its immense speed at Rory, hitting him in the back of the head, causing him to hit the console in front of him.

'No!' the Doctor shouts; there is a moment of electrical discharge from the console, zapping them all away from it and turning out the light.

Rory is the first to the wake, rubbing his head from the impact. Everything seemed familiar but different to him except... the room had changed.

'Excuse me?' said a voice.

Rory turned to see a man, an odd man, standing at the console wearing a blue suit and converse. The man moves towards Rory, looking him up and down.

Rory is frightened; the man looks rugged like he is going through some hard times.

'Are you going to hurt me?' asks Rory gulping, 'Because I won't tell you anything, I don't have anything to tell but even if I did I wouldn't.'

The man looks confused and a little distressed. There are marks where tears have been rubbed from the man's eyes but he smiles and replies,

'I won't hurt you, you can trust me… I'm the Doctor'.


End file.
